Raw Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites (gluten-free, soy-free)

They taste just like real cookie dough, except they're raw, vegan, gluten-free and healthy. They freeze wonderfully so consider making a double batch and stashing a dozen in the freezer for when your cookie dough cravings strike!

Directions:

Blend the cashews and oats in a Vita-Mix, food processor, or high speed blender until they're a fine powder. Don't overblend or you'll wind up with cashew butter very quickly.

Add the agave, maple, vanilla and blend until incorporated. Be careful to just blend in short bursts and only until combined; don't over-process.

Stir in the chocolate chips by hand.

Form into balls and serve. If dough is sticky, chilling it in the refrigerator or flash-chilling it in the freezer helps make it easier to work with.

Recipe from Averie Cooks. All images and content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words, or simply link back to this post for the recipe. Thank you.

Tip for Vita-Mix Users: You know you have “The Right Consistency” of Dough when the dough starts to ball up like a tennis ball and bangs around from side to side in the canister. I have learned this through trial and error and wanted to pass along my wisdom. Once you see The Ball (what I am talking about is in the above photo) start whipping around, Stop Blending. You have reached Perfect Dough Consistency Status.

Add the Chocolate Chips (or the Raw Chocolate Chips like I told you how to make)

Either Stir them in By Hand, of a 5 Second Blend in the VitaCookie (or Food Processor)

Transfer Dough Blob to plate or working surface. Tip: If for some reason your dough was too sticky, gummy, runny, or unworkable, refrigerate for a half hour and you should be back in business.

Roll Into Cute Raw Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls. I yielded 17 Balls from this Recipe. Clearly, not an exact science but that’s what I got.

The Pretty Raw Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls

Pretty is nice. But they are freakin’ amazing. I am not just saying that, either.

Optional Tweaks:
Add a dusting of cocoa powder, carob powder, or powdered sugar to the finished balls
Roll in raw cocoa nibs or shredded coconut
Rather than adding in chocolate chips, add raisins instead and add a dash of cinnamon to the batter for Oatmeal-Cinnamon-Raisin Raw Cookie Dough Balls
Flatten or mold into larger cookie shapes
Dehydrate for a more “cooked tasting” version of a chocolate chip cookie. But gawd I love the raw dough taste so this is out for me!

Now I wanted to touch on about why this may be one of my best dessert recipes ever! For me, a recipe has to encompass many things if I am going to actually make it and then continue making it as it becomes a go-to favorite.

Some of those recipe elements include:
1. Easy. The less steps the better.
2. Time Involved. If I cannot make the entire thing from walking into my pantry to grab the dry goods to the last dish is dried and put away 30 minutes later then I am probably not going to make it. I have a life outside of the kitch, too.
3. One appliance. For me, this is my Vita-Mix. For you, it may be your food processor. Dehydrated food is lovely, but it can be a lonnnnng wait and too much advance planning. And also the amount of dishes involved factors in here too. If you need a whisk, spoon, spatula, mixer beaters, Vita canisters, dehydrator screens, 7 bowls, forget it. One Appliance Please.
4. Very simple and short ingredient list. Nothing exotic. Nothing too expensive to deplete your savings account.
5. Taste. Must be excellent and if it’s a raw approximation of Something Else, it’s gotta taste like the Something Else it’s trying to be otherwise why bother. Just eat the Something Else or skip it entirely. Unless I can make a raw approximation that is spot-on in the flavor department, I’d rather just not have it.

These Raw Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls have all of items 1 through 5. And using the above as my criteria, the cookie dough balls are in company with these other Raw Vegan Desserts I have created that also encompass items 1 through 5:

Wow! These are good! I spent the morning trying a bunch of different raw cookie/energy bite recipes and this was far and away the BEST ONE. With the addition of 1 tsp of salt, they really do remind me of chocolate chip cookies. (I cut down to 1 tbsp of Agave and 2 tsp of honey since I don’t think things too sweet.) My “batter” was really sticky at first, but after 30 min in the freezer, they were each to handle and row into a ball.

Yum! I wish I doubled the recipe.

There’s always tomorrow to double it :) Glad you enjoyed these the most out of the others you tried! Playing with sugar/salt ratios just slightly is always good to do; to taste. Glad you’re a fan of them and thanks for LMK! :)

The banana oats peanut butter and choc chip recipe that is baked for 15 min. What is that ?? I am all confused. Two totally different recipes. What is the banana one called ? They are not raw dough bites but that recipe is posted with the picture of the raw bites. HELP !!

Betty, calm down, you’re super worked up over cookies…relax :)

This recipe has been pinned hundreds of thousands of times. In some of the pins, there description was not correct. If you saw a picture of cookie dough balls with text about bananas – FORGET about the bananas. It has nothing to do with this recipe. It’s like the telephone game; every now and then things get jumbled up. It happens.

If you would like to make the recipe that has to do with bananas, follow the link I already sent you. If you want to make cookie dough, make this recipe.

What kind of oats do you recommend using? Could oat groats be used?

I simply use Quaker Old Fashioned Whole Rolled Oats. If you need to keep the recipe certified GF or certified raw, then you’d have to use another kind, but for me and my needs, basic oats is all I use. I have never tried it with groats – I would think they would pulverize in the blender/food proc just fine, but haven’t tested it.

As I mixed the ingredients together, I couldn’t help but notice mine looked nothing like yours. In fact I at first thought the picture was just a stock photo on the pin I found because it looked to much like real cookie dough. Once I went to this site I realized it really was pictures of the dough and mine just looked horribly wrong compared to it lol. Mine was goopy and sticky. Tasted amazing as a dough though and amazing once baked also. So I will definitely be making these again! My 2 yr old daughter is GF so will be very happy with these. Thanks for posting!

Hmmm upon relooking at this …. The recipe here is NOT the recipe on the pin! I came here after following the recipe in the comment on the actual pin on pinterest which was only banana, quick oats, chocolate chips and peanut butter…. No wonder mine looked nothing like yours!

This recipe has been pinned over 1 million times. Probably more. It’s been the most popular recipe on my blog since 2009 and in the past 18 months or so, there are pins floating around with a recipe written on the pin about bananas and baking at 350F. That’s not this recipe! This recipe is for raw, vegan, GF chocolate chip cookie dough balls. I do have a vegan/GF healthy cookie recipe that uses bananas here http://www.averiecooks.com/2013/05/healthy-oatmeal-chocolate-chip-miracle-cookies.html

Which is why your dough looked nothing like these photos of cookie dough balls. The dough you made could be a spinoff of my Healthy Miracle Cookies that I just linked. Anyway – glad they turned out great regardless for you!

This recipe sounds great – what can we use instead of agave….they don’t have this in South Africa right now. kathy

Honey or maple syrup.

Hmmm….Where do the 2 bananas come in to play?

This recipe has been pinned over 2 million times and it’s been the most popular recipe on my blog since 2009 and in the past 18 months or so, there are pins floating around with a recipe written on the pin about bananas and baking at 350F. That’s not this recipe! This recipe is for raw, vegan, GF chocolate chip cookie dough balls. and has nothing to do with bananas or baked cookies.

I didn’t have cashews, so after reading comments about almond flour decided to substitute it. I mixed a batch and like you’d said, it lacked creaminess. THEN I remembered all the comments about the mislabeling on the pin, i.e. the banana, and realized that one would lend the right texture so I made a second batch right away (with almond butter, plus banana, no agave or maple syrup) and then mixed the two batches together. Maybe a tad creamy now, but still delightfully delicious.

Thanks for the detailed report about what you did. Yes, almonds are no where near the creamy/smoothy/buttery feel and taste that cashews have. But glad you figured out a few tweaks to help you with what you had on hand and you’re happy!

Hi Averie! I’ve been really curious to try this recipe, but I absolutely HATE nuts. As in, if my sister plopped down on the couch next to me eating Nutella out of the jar (a regular occurance), I’d make her leave. I’m really sensitive to both the smell and taste. Do these have any nuttiness at all to them?

I don’t think so but you HAVE TO USE raw, unsalted cashews. I love Trader Joe’s for this. Do NOT try to swap out almonds for it. However, given how sensitive you are, all bets are off…But I really don’t like nuts in baked goods and to me, these taste like buttery cookie dough, not at all like nuts. Please write back and LMK what you think!

Thanks for the speedy reply! My grandpa always has cashews at his house so next time I’m there I’ll do the sniff test and if it goes well I’ll try the recipe! I’ll let you know if I end up trying it out.

I saw the nutriton facts that someone posted. But do we know the carb count per ball?

Oh . My . Goodness.
I just made these and had to PHYSICALLY stop myself from eating the whole batch!! Thank you so so much for this recipe it really is amazing! I LOVE cookie dough and your recipe just solved my cookie dough obsession for LIFE! I took your advice about the cashews and did not regret a single thing! Gosh I could gush over this for hours but I just wanted to say thank you again! Perfection!

I have it and never use it. I always just use the main wet container, even if I’m grinding dry. So far so good, 6+ yrs later. I would save y0ur money, personally.

I don’t have a Vitamix, just a regular blender and food processor. I tried another recipe that called for “High Speed Blender” or Vitamix and the almonds I blanched (soaked, shelled) and ground up did not work out as it should have, very grainy. So, will this recipe not work unless it’s with a Vitamix (high speed blender)?

I just purchased some raw cashews, that I use for other recipes, and don’t want to waste them if it won’t turn out right.

The recipe works just fine in either a Vitamix or a food processor. Do NOT SOAK them first. That could be part of your issue. This recipe needs dry nuts so that when blended they pulverize down into dust that resembles flour; not a wet sloppy paste which is what will happen if you soak them first. Just toss your raw cashews along with rest of ingredients into your food proc and watch it closely. Blend for about 30 secs, give or take, and you should be all set.

I keep seeing this pop up on Pinterest and they look great but the recipe on the pin is different than the one on this website. The one on the pin uses bananas, oats, chocolate chips, vanilla, and peanut butter. If you don’t have agave would banana work for adding sweetness?

This was a good recipe, but a chocolate chip cookie is not made simply because chocolate chips were added.
The taste was a nice subtle sweetness with moments of chocolate.
This in no way mimics the flavor profile of a chocolate chip cookie.

That’s an interesting perspective. I happen to love them and many hundreds of people have written in saying they love them, too. To each their own!

Since this is a recipe for cookie dough and not an actual cookie, I wonder why one would expect it to be an exact replica of a Tollhouse teeming with white flour, butter, & brown sugar. Seems like thinly veiled criticism of a healthier version of this treat that is offered for free on a blog.

On another note, I totally forgot about these dough balls. I have been making my littles the chocolate chip flavor larabar type treats we call brownies, but the oats sound like a fine idea. I will definitely double the batch tomorrow.

Thanks for a great recipe! It sure is hard putting your work out there for the world to judge. I don’t normally comment, but get so dang fired up when I read rudeness on blogs, I had to say something.

Steph – I don’t know you but I heart you :)

Thank you for your support and for realizing that not every recipe will suit everyone’s needs nor is ‘perfect’ for everyone, and in this situation, a healthy alternative like this does taste darn close to real cookie dough, but no, it’s not refrigerated-dough-in-a-tube with all kinds of interesting ingredients. And if that’s what someone wants, that’s easily obtainable.

Raw, vegan, GF, healthy options aren’t always so easy obtainable which is why I posted this recipe back in 2009! And yes, it’s hard to put work out there to be scrutinized but I try to remember that tons of people love it and if a few people don’t, oh well :)

Probably not, no. The oats are necessary in this very short ingredients list – everything is there for a reason.

Just trying to give a heads-up… semi-sweet chocolate morsels typically contain milkfat, which renders these little yummies, sadly, not vegan =( However, Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods brand chocolate chips are both vegan… so use those! Yum!

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Hi, I'm Averie and I'm so glad you've found my site! You'll find fast and easy recipes from dinners to desserts that taste amazing and are geared for real life. Nothing fussy or complicated, just awesome tasting dishes everyone loves!